What is a Web Server?
A web server is a computer that allows other computers to view certain files through Hyper Text Transfer Protocol, HTTP for short. A server serves the file, and what is known as the client receives the file. When a client requests a file from the server, the server responds, or serves, with the appropriate file. This may sound complicated, but it really is quite simple when you start using it.
Before we go much deeper into the world of web servers, I would like to make a distinction between two terms I use throughout the article: dedicated and integrated. Dedicated servers are computers made specifically for serving web sites, and nothing else. They typically are the ones big corporations use, because they can handle extreme amounts of load. A typical web server does not use much load, but when you get 10,000 or more requests per day, your server needs to be able to handle quite a bit. Companies like Google and Yahoo use several dedicated web servers together. Then there are integrated servers. An integrated server is one that is built for some purpose other than serving web files, but has a web server integrated into it. Integrated servers shouldn’t have to handle great amounts of load, but will be fine for the average reader, and this is the type of setup we will be shooting for in this article.
There are several possible uses for a web server. You could host a family or business web page. Or you could access your PowerPoint files, Word documents, or pictures from any internet capable computer in the world.
Requirements
The requirements for a web server are really quite managable. Pretty much any computer can run Apache, the program that is the backbone of your server, because it has no GUI (Graphical User Interface) and is run from a command line interface. Don’t be scared off if you don’t know anything about command line, as you will rarely ever see it. Most, if not all, of the configuration in this tutorial is done for you by a neat little program called AppServ.
The recommended OS requirement for this tutorial is any version of Windows version 98 and up. Please ensure that you have plenty of hard drive space for your intended use. I can not make a generalized requirement, although I recommend 5 gigabytes or more, depending on your version of Windows. If your main purpose is to serve HTML files, you won’t need as much space as a person who is trying to make a picture gallery.
This last requirement is also the most important. Please, have a broadband connection available to your server! No one wants to try and connect to a picture gallery running at 56k, even one image takes forever to download on 56k. So, please, save yourself and your site’s viewers from this frustration. I recommend you have a connection that is left on all the time, to allow your viewers to view the site no matter what time it is. Please also ensure that your ISP will allow you to run a server. Some ISPs have strict limitations on servers. Disclaimer: Setting up and running a server is at your own risk, no one else can or will be held responsible for it. Please check with your ISP for permission prior to setting up the server.
Program Requirements
To set up your server successfully, you will need two programs and an account at http://www.no-ip.com. All the programs used in this tutorial are free at the time of this writing. If you get confused on what to do, just keep reading, as I will go much more in depth on each program and setup later in this article. Here is a list of things to get:
- AppServ- Download the latest version of this package at http://www.appservnetwork.com/. The latest version as of this writing is 2.5.0.
- No-IP Account- Sign up for a free no-ip account and get a free subdomain, like yourname.no-ip.org. When it asks to add a host, your hostname is “yourname” in the example used. Your host type needs to be set to DNS Host (A). The rest of it, including your IP address needs to be left default. The MX record is for setting up e-mail, if you want to.
- No-IP Dynamic DNS Update Client (DUC) – This utility is really meant only for those who have a Dynamic IP address, but just in case, I recommend everyone install it anyway. Download here
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